Robots

Robots in the work place can perform hazardous or even 'impossible' tasks; e.g., toxic waste clean-up, desert and space exploration, and more. AI researchers are also interested in the intelligent processing involved in moving about and manipulating objects in the real world.

The world's largest drone-maker, DJI, has reported that it will take a loss of up to a billion yuan ($150 million) due to employee fraud, according to Bloomberg and other sources. The company said that it fired multiple employees who apparently inflated parts costs to pad their own pockets. DJI discovered the "extensive" corruption during an internal probe and has contacted law enforcement. The corruption probe is one of the largest ever in the recent history of Chinese tech, according to Bloomberg. "DJI condemns any form of corruption strongly and has set up a high-level anti-corruption task force to investigate further and strengthen anti-corruption measures," the company said.

Last month, Waymo launched its first self-driving taxi service -- Waymo One -- in Phoenix, Arizona, but you would hardly know it by scrolling through your feed. We don't know how many people are using the Google offshoot's self-driving minivans (Waymo won't say), but the ones that are have been surprisingly mute on social media. One exception is Shawn Metz, a 30-year-old HR manager who lives in Chandler, Arizona. Since he was invited to use Waymo One in December, Metz has posted at least a dozen videos on Instagram and YouTube, documenting his experience using Waymo's self-driving minivans. He's become the hero of AV enthusiasts on Reddit for his willingness to answer questions and post unedited videos of his rides.

It's a bright September morning in San Carlos, California, and Masayoshi Son, chairman of SoftBank, is throwing me off schedule. I'd come, as he had, to meet with the people he's tapped to run the Vision Fund, his $100 billion bet on the future of, well, everything. After almost four decades of building SoftBank into a telecom conglomerate, Son, an inveterate dealmaker, launched this unprecedented venture two years ago to back startups that he believes are driving a new wave of digital upheaval. He has staked everything on its success–his company, his reputation, his fortune. We'd both arrived with the same basic question: Where is this massive vehicle heading? But because I wasn't the one footing the 12-figure allowance, I understood that I'd be the one to wait. When I finally arrive at the Vision Fund's offices, just off California's Highway 101, I'm struck by how mundane they are. Son is known for big, showy statements. He reportedly paid $117 million for a home in Woodside in 2013, the highest price ever in the U.S. This glass and concrete building, on the other hand, could be found in any part of suburban America. The room where I wait is spartan.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has a perception problem, as many people think of the technology primarily as a job killer. However, collaboration between humans and AI opens the opportunity of putting the design and manufacturing of goods of all kinds on a new, better foundation by curating intelligence. That's why we should rethink our expectations for machine intelligence and how it will affect our future. The role of a human as the most intelligent creature on earth may not last much longer. Technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning are taking on operations that could previously only be conducted with human intelligence – and in some cases they're doing even better than we do.

European and American experts teach the robot various movements A group of engineers from Switzerland, Germany and the USA, trained the robot ANYmal walk, run and recover from falls using artificial intelligence algorithms, not manual algorithms-controllers. A feature of the work also lies in the fact that the algorithm was trained during the simulation, and then learned the skill were transferred to the real robot, say the authors of the article in Science is Robotics. Engineers have already created many of the walking robots of different designs, including some that are quite sophisticated. For example, a well known robotics company Boston Dynamics, is able to stay on his feet after the attacks. However, in addition to hardware component is not less important software.

Drugs could be delivered by microscopic, shape-shifting robots you swallow in the future, scientists believe. Researchers have created the tiny gadgets, which are around 5mm in length and can navigate the narrow channels of the human body. The tiny robots, developed by Swiss researchers, even change shape and speed as they travel through bendy blood vessels and thick bodily fluids. Drugs may one day be delivered by microscopic robots (pictured) we swallow. When tested in the lab, the robot adapted to squeeze through narrow tubes.

In pursuit of automation-driven efficiencies, the rapidly evolving artificial intelligence (AI) tools and techniques (such as neural networks, machine-learning, predictive analytics, speech recognition, natural-language processing and more) are now routinely used across nations: its governments, industries, organizations and academia (NGIOA) for navigation, translation, behavior modeling, robotic control, risk management, security, decision making and many other applications. As AI is becoming democratized, these evolving intelligent algorithms are now rapidly becoming prevalent in most, if not all, aspects of human and machine decision-making. While Decision Utilities like intelligent algorithms have been in use for many years, there are rising concerns about the general lack of algorithmic understanding, usage practices, the rapidly penetrating bias in automated decisions, and the lack of transparency and accountability. As a result, ensuring integrity, transparency and trust in algorithmic decision-making is becoming a complex challenge for the creators of algorithms with huge implications for the future of society. Irrespective of cyberspace, geospace or space (CGS), since technology revolutions are driven not just by accidental discovery but also by societal needs, the question we all individually and collectively need to first and foremost evaluate is whether there really is a need for decision-making algorithms--and if yes, where and why.

The Victorian government has given approval to Bosch to test automated driving systems on the state's rural roads. With a AU$2.3 million grant, awarded under the AU$9 million Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Trial Grants Program, Bosch will be the first to use automated vehicles for testing and development on Victorian roads. The state in September finalised regulations to support the new Automated Driving System (ADS) permit scheme, which authorises the operation of an automated vehicle. With an ADS permit, parties can test the operation of the vehicle in automated mode, test the safety of automated capabilities, and assist the development of automated capabilities, enabling road authorities to also monitor and manage the use and impacts of automated vehicles on roads. VicRoads in late 2017 called for expressions of interest from companies, industry bodies, and other transport technology organisations to apply for funding to spur the development of automated vehicle technology, specifically if it had the potential to reduce deaths and serious injuries on the state's roads.

Measuring 20.5 inches long (521 mm), the manipulator device weighs 2 lb (907 g) on land, although that effectively drops to 0.9 lb (408 g) once it's underwater. Its pincer-type gripper can open to a maximum width of 4.5 inches (114 mm), delivering up to 17 lb (7.7 kg) of gripping force. We're told that it's possible to swap the gripper for other implements, depending on what the task requires.